Myrna set her stack of data on the coffee table between her laptop and cup of chamomile tea and answered her cell phone. Didn't he realize it was 11 o'clock at night in her time zone?
"Hello?"
"I miss you," Brian murmured. "Did I wake you?"
She smiled. She missed him, too, but had been getting a lot of work done since she'd returned home. She was almost caught up. Her guilt trip for abandoning her work to enjoy Brian was starting to wane. Just a little. Maybe she could return to him sooner than she'd imagined. "No, I'm still working. How did the music video shoot go today?"
"I'm in all of five shots. Sed's a total camera hog. The rest of us were bored." She heard the slur in his voice.
"And so you drank all day," she guessed.
"We were bored."
"I'm going to let you go."
"Why?"
"Because I'm working." And I can't stand the sound of your voice when you're drunk.
"Is that really why?"
"Call me back tomorrow," she said. "When you're sober."
"Myrna?"
She hung up. She sighed and picked up her data. She'd only typed in one number when the phone rang again. She considered not answering, but finally picked up.
"Brian, I don't want to talk to you right now."
"Who's Brian?"
Myrna's blood turned cold. Her throat closed off.
Jeremy.
She couldn't breathe, much less speak. How had he gotten her phone number? She'd been careful to keep it unlisted and had given it to very few people.
"Who's Brian?" he repeated.
Her only reply was a gasp. Paralyzed with fear, she couldn't move. Or think.
"Is he the reason you've been away from your apartment for over three weeks?"
How did he know she'd been away? Was he watching her again?
"Are you fucking him?"
"How did you get this number?" she asked around the lump in her throat.
"Are you fucking him? I'll kill him. No one touches you but me. Do you understand? You're my wife. You belong to me."
"Jeremy, we're divorced. And in case you forgot, I still have that restraining order."
"Are you going to call the cops? Go ahead. They don't know where I am, but I'll see you real soon, sugar." He disconnected.
Myrna tossed the cell phone across the couch as if it had transformed into a snake. She jumped to her feet, lowered the blinds at all the windows and jerked the drapes closed. She checked to make sure the front door was locked. Bolted. Chained. She looked in the closets. Checked under the bed and behind doors. In the kitchen cabinets. The refrigerator. She was alone. Too alone for comfort. She picked up her cell phone and locked herself in the bathroom.
When she closed the door, the shower curtain billowed. Myrna dialed 911 and held her thumb over Send as she approached the bathtub. Heart thudding, she grabbed the curtain and jerked it back.
Empty.
Her shoulders sagged with relief. She sat on the edge of the bathtub with her back against the cold, tile wall so she could see the entire room. Jeremy might have learned to teleport since she'd last seen him.
She called Brian.
He answered on the second ring. "Oh, so now you want to talk to me."
She could hear a lot of noise in the background. Loud music. Conversation. Laughter. Clinking glasses. She was scared out of her wits and he was partying like, well, a rock star. The jerk.
"J-Jeremy called," she whispered.
"What? I can't hear you," he shouted.
The noises in the background changed rapidly. He must be on the move toward an exit, or some place a little more quiet.
"Say it again," he said.
"J-Jeremy called." She wiped at an annoying tear with the back of her hand. What did tears get you? Nothing. They sure didn't make a drunk stop accusing you of being a filthy whore.
"Your ex-husband? I thought you had no contact with him. Why did he call you?"
"He wanted to know where I've been for the last three weeks," she whispered. She couldn't seem to talk any louder. As if Jeremy might overhear her.
"He's stalking you again," Brian said with a certainty. "Do you have someone who can stay with you until I get there?"
"No, I didn't call you to get you to come here. He said he was going to kill you."
"He said that? How does he even know about me?"
"Don't come here."
"Then you come here. Immediately."
There was a thump in the apartment next door and Myrna jumped.
It was bad enough that she had to live in fear, but she refused to put Brian at risk. If she went to him, or he came to her, she knew Jeremy would hurt him. She swallowed and took a deep breath, hoping she sounded confident when she said, "Don't be ridiculous. I have a ton of work to do. He's just being a jerk. I'll be fine. I know he won't bother me again. I reminded him that I have a restraining order. If he comes near me, all I have to do is call the police and they'll arrest him."
"Yeah, okay. I'll just sit around here for a week and hope your psychotic stalker of an ex-husband leaves you alone."
"Brian—"
"I'll be there as soon as I can. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you?"
"That's not really necessar… For a little while."
"Tell me about your day," he said. She could hear the bar noises in the background again. "Hey, Phil," he called to someone, "call me a cab, will you?"
"You're leaving already, Brian?" some annoyed-sounding woman said. "We just got this party started."
"You're not telling me about your day," Brian said to Myrna.
"What do you want to know?"
"Everything. Start from the moment you opened your eyes."
"Shouldn't I start from the moment I rolled over in bed and tried to find you, but you weren't there?"
"Yeah, start with that." She could hear the smile in his voice.
She told him all about her day. Every moment, including what Jeremy had said to her on the phone. Brian kept her talking on his cab ride to the airport, while he booked a flight at the ticket counter, and the entire time he waited for his flight. She felt safer just having him on the other end of the line. She eventually let herself out of the bathroom and crawled into bed with her phone. She left all the lights in the apartment on, however. She didn't think she could handle darkness.
"My battery is going dead," he said. "I'll keep talking as long as I can. My plane is boarding soon."
"I'm sorry to be a pest, Brian."
"You're not a pest."
She didn't realize she was on the verge of tears until they started to fall. "I shouldn't have called you. And I shouldn't let you come here," she whispered, and sniffed her nose. "Jeremy might hurt you."
"I can take care of that stupid prick. Don't worry about me. Keep yourself safe until I get there. You know, if you go to sleep now, I'll be there when you wake up."
She nodded as if he could see her. She was exhausted. Mentally drained. "Thank you for being there for me."
"Think nothing of it. You know I lo—"
The phone disconnected. His battery must've died. Not wanting Jeremy to have the opportunity to call her again, she shut off her phone. Tomorrow she'd get the number changed.
But how? How had Jeremy found her? She'd been so careful.